The marble bath so beautiful the rest of the room was designed around it

Giles Kime admires a pared-down space capped off with an antique marble bath that sets the tone.

Drummonds - bathroom with antique marble bath
(Image credit: Drummonds - bathroom with antique marble bath)

This en-suite bathroom designed by Drummonds is in the extension of a listed 15th-century farmhouse in Surrey that was constructed with an oak frame and has walls finished with lime plaster.

The owners were keen that the structure and its interior were not only sympathetic to the building’s medieval origins, but also had a crisp, almost contemporary style.

The centrepiece of the scheme, of course, is the antique marble bath.

Antique marble bath

The bath actually came first, and guided the design of the rest of the space – including the extensive use of Carrara marble with a soft-grey vein. The skirting is also marble.

The curved, frameless shower screen allows maximum height for the showerhead, but has minimal visual impact.

Showerhead

Because the windows are single glazed in keeping with the rest of the building, a robust heating system was a must. The steeply pitched roof also didn’t leave much wall space to accommodate radiators, so a sophisticated underfloor heating system was chosen.

The project was designed and overseen by Drummonds bathrooms, which also supplied the basin, taps and showerhead.

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Drummonds – 0207 376 4499; www.drummonds-uk.com

Giles Kime
Giles Kime is Country Life's Executive and Interiors Editor, an expert in interior design with decades of experience since starting his career at The World of Interiors magazine. Giles joined Country Life in 2016, introducing new weekly interiors features, bridging the gap between our coverage of architecture and gardening. He previously launched a design section in The Telegraph and spent over a decade at Homes & Gardens magazine (launched by Country Life's founder Edward Hudson in 1919). A regular host of events at London Craft Week, Focus, Decorex and the V&A, he has interviewed leading design figures, including Kit Kemp, Tricia Guild, Mary Fox Linton, Chester Jones, Barbara Barry and Lord Snowdon. He has written a number of books on interior design, property and wine, the most recent of which is on the legendary interior designer Nina Campbell who last year celebrated her fiftieth year in business. This Autumn sees the publication of his book on the work of the interior designer, Emma Sims-Hilditch. He has also written widely on wine and at 26, was the youngest ever editor of Decanter Magazine. Having spent ten years restoring an Arts & Crafts house on the banks of the Itchen, he and his wife, Kate, are breathing life into a 16th-century cottage near Alresford that has remained untouched for almost half a century.